Muslimská literatura ve Spojených státech // Muslim literature in the United States
release_545mwfsnobebfiioje4v27cfwy
by
Karel Helman
2018 Volume 28, Issue 57, p87-102
Abstract
In its introductory part, the present article traces the development of a distinct genre of Muslim
American literature (MAL) both within and outside of the overlapping categories of Arab-American
and African-American literature. Having introduced two MAL representatives of Syrian and Pakistani
origin, Mohja Kahf and Ayad Akhtar, the article focuses on the comparison of their acclaimed
debut novels — exemplary Muslim American bildungsromans — The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf and
American Dervish. These coming-of-age tales are set in the Midwest in the 1970s and 80s, where both
writers grew up. They draw sharp, earthy portraits of Muslim characters, young heroes struggling to
reconcile the faith with their secular adoptive country, religious expatriate community and parents.
The two characters seek to strike a delicate balance between the integration into a pluralistic society
and the awareness of their ancestral traditions, thus developing from devout teenagers to more composed
young adults. Addressing the general issue of minorities within mainstream cultures, both
MAL authors show outsiders what it means to be a Muslim in a secular society, expanding their novels'
universal reference scope to overcome the clichés of the after-9/11 national trauma literature.
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